Christian Worship and Desire
The Theological School launches its 2019 academic year with a Commencement Lecture by Sarah Coakley on the topic ‘Christian Worship and Desire’. The lecture opens up a discussion about how ‘desire’ operates in the workings of prayer and worship, and how we should think of its enduring significance in the context of contemporary church and culture. Beginning from the Scriptural witness and especially the Psalms, it reflects on how the pervasive ‘sexualisation’ of desire in contemporary Western culture has deflected interest from the ascetic and monastic wisdom about the training of desire as a life-long project directed at God. It ends with a reflection on how the minister/priest participates in, and potentially modulates, this play of desire in the eucharist and other acts of worship, and how this brings both moral danger and unique spiritual opportunity.
Sarah Coakley was Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University (2007–2018) and is now a Visiting Professorial Fellow at ACU Melbourne. She previously taught at the universities of Harvard (Mallinckrodt Professor, 1995–2007), Oxford, and Lancaster, and has been a visiting Professor at the University of Princeton. She is an Anglican priest of the Diocese of Ely, and an honorary canon of Ely Cathedral.
Date: Monday 25 February 2019
Time: 7.30–9.00pm
Cost: This is a free event, but booking is essential
RSVP: Online by COB Friday 22 February 2019
Enquiries: Karen Graham | 03 9348 7127 | karens@trinity.unimelb.edu.au